Doug Grosmark - 25 Years of Service

A Legion of Honor certificate is our way of congratulating our members who reach the 25-year Kiwanis membership milestone.  Just recently, it was our distinct pleasure to welcome one of our most remarkable volunteers as the newest member of the Legion of Honor, Dr. Douglas M. Grosmark.

Originally from beautiful Downtown Burbank, where he grew up not far from "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" at the NBC television studios, Doug was the son of a high school educator.  He graduated from UC Irvine before enrolling in dental school. 

Doug officially joined G.A.G. Kiwanis in April 1994.  Doug had just relocated his dental practice to Del Cerro and was hoping to find a way to give back to the community. What he found was Kiwanis, and the rest is history!

Doug hadn't been in our club for more than a few months when he decided to start a K-Kids Club at Hearst Elementary School. K-Kids, as a sponsored program of Kiwanis International, was still in its infancy, with the world's first K-Kids Club  being established in 1990.  By February of 1995, the Hearst K-Kids Club, under the tutelage of Doug, had received its charter and was already completing service projects.  That K-Kids Club was the first ever in the state of California!

Doug’s commitment to Hearst over the past 25 years is unmatched.  Since chartering that club, Doug has served longer in the Hearst family than any other adult on campus!  Whether collecting Halloween candy for military families, collecting canned goods for the food bank, or organizing a school-wide “Pennies for Patients” drive to raise money for leukemia/lymphoma research, Doug’s involvement in K-Kids has shown his young club members that they can have a positive impact on their community.

As our Student of the Month Award chairman, Doug has personally welcomed hundreds of students from Hearst, Lewis and Patrick Henry, and their families, as a goodwill ambassador of our Kiwanis Club.  Doug also is personally involved with the Eric Paredes Save-a-Life Foundation, which provides heart screenings to teenagers designed to determine if they may be susceptible to cardiac arrest or other significant heart problems.

We are grateful to count Doug as our colleague and friend!